Post by Focus on May 17, 2013 18:58:30 GMT
* Chris McManus was shot six times in a toilet during the rescue attempt
* Seven British special forces soldiers and the Nigerians risked their lives
* His Italian colleague Franco Lamolinara was also killed
The family of a British construction worker murdered by his Islamist kidnappers just minutes after a joint UK and Nigerian rescue operation stormed their compound today praised the soldiers who tried to save him and said the Government had been right to send them.
Quantity surveyor Chris McManus from Oldham was shot six times in a toilet as the special forces tried to save his life, but they were under AK-47 fire from the kidnappers at the compound in Nigeria’s north west city of Sokoto. His Italian colleague Franco Lamolinara was also killed.
His family said the seven British special forces soldiers and the Nigerians had risked their lives to save him after nearly ten months of captivity at the hands of the extremists.
Chris McManus (pictured) and Italian colleague Franco Lamolinar taken hostage in northern Nigeria were killed by their captors before they could be rescued
'We hoped until the end for a positive outcome as we are sure did Chris and Franco. They were always in a dangerous situation from the time of their kidnapping.
'However, the sequence of events, particularly over the last few days of their lives, played out in such a manner as to make it a hopeless one,' his mother Laura said.
'We accept that the decisions reached and taken by the authorities were the only ones possible based on the information available.'
Wiltshire and Swindon coroner David Ridley recorded a verdict of unlawful killing and said: 'Chris died from the result of a devastating gunshot wound to the head.'
The hearing in Salisbury heard the soldiers stormed the building after intelligence in previous days told them that Mr McManus, 28, was there with Mr Lamolinara.
The go-ahead for the operation had been given by Cobra - the Government’s crisis committee - at 11.15, just 45 minutes before it started - after a senior officer had reviewed the evidence and there were fears for the men’s safety.
The British team had been sent to the area the previous day and burst through the compound front gates at midday local time on March 8 last year, senior investigating office detective chief inspector Grant Mallon said.
The soldiers were soon put under small arms fire and he said the weapon was an AK-47 because of its distinctive crack sound. The men killed at least one militant and then Mr Mallon said they heard further shots with the same distinctive crack in the north west area of the compound.
Laura McManus, the mother of Chris McManus from Oldham, read a statement after the inquest in Salisbury into her son's death
Chris McManus's mother kisses her son Ben after the inquest and giving a statement
'Muffled gunshots were heard by the team in sector one in the north west corner of the compound. They were from a high calibre weapon. It seemed to them they were in a room and it was rapid shots.
'Two insurgents were then seen leaving the compound from the north on a ladder at 12.04,' the policeman said.
The soldiers then systematically went through the compound until they came to the north west end of the compound and found some tarpaulin obscuring a building.
The men saw single beds and a room with a barred window. They then went into another room with a single and double bed and saw a Manchester United football shirt similar to one Mr McManus had been wearing in videos released by his captors in the months before his death.
'They called out for Franco and Chris but received no reply,' Mr Mallon said.
'To the right there was a metal door to a toilet and they noticed there were bullet holes to it and the team noticed there were 7.62mm munitions and cases on the floor.
'The door was partially open and when the soldiers looked inside they could see two white males on the floor and they immediately recognised them as Chris and Franco. Chris was lying to the left of the toilet. Both men had visible gunshot wounds. It appears they were killed fairly quickly into the engagement.
'A doctor was called forward. He examined Chris and Franco, and Chris was pronounced dead at 1.38 pm local time.'
Kidnapped British national Chris McManus with three alleged masked and armed members of an Al Qaeda-linked Nigerian group at an unidentified location
The house in Nigeria where British hostage Chris McManus and Italian hostage Franco Lamolinara were killed
The pair were killed when a Special Boat Service rescue operation ended in tragedy. Gunshot holes and marks can be seen on the walls
A post-mortem examination found that Mr McManus died from a single gunshot wound to the head from a 7.62mm round that killed him almost instantly, the hearing was told.
He also suffered injuries to the left leg, the left arm and torso. Friendly fire was ruled out in the death because the rescue forces were using 5.56mm munitions.
The men had been kidnapped in May 2011. Before their execution three videos were released showing they were alive - the latest on February 23 2012.
The failed operation caused a diplomatic row between Britain and Italy after Italian president Giorgio Napolitano said it was “inexplicable” that Downing Street had not alerted Rome to the plan to rescue the men in advance.
But Foreign Secretary William Hague insisted it had been impossible to inform the Italian authorities in advance.
Franco Lamolinara, the Italian hostage killed in Nigeria alongside Chris McManus
British officials at the time blamed a splinter wing of the Boko Haram sect for the abductions, but a sect spokesman denied the group’s involvement.
Mr McManus was working for the construction company B.Stabilini when he was kidnapped on May 12 by gunmen who stormed his apartment in the city of Birnin-Kebbi, about 110 miles away from Sokoto. Mr Lamolinara was abducted at the same time.
The gunmen stormed into the heavily guarded compound the men lived in just 500 metres from the construction site they were working on and tied up the guards.
Mr McManus was working on a building in Birnin-Kebbi for the state bank of Nigeria and had returned home at about 6pm.
The kidnappers struck at around 8.30pm and at first the staff thought the men were just thieves who had got into the compound. Prior to the abductions the city had been considered safe by B.Stabilini.
Recording his verdict, Ridley said: “Within the first minutes of the operation was when Chris was fatally shot. Those two insurgents who were seen leaving the compound, I’m satisifed that one of those was responsible for Chris’s death and also Franco’s.
The coroner said Mr McManus might have tried to seek refuge inside the toilet when the rescue operation started but he was shot through the door and then his killer partially entered the room to fire fire further rounds.
Youths look out from a compound where two hostages were held in Sokoto, Nigeria on Saturday
'An examination after death in the UK on March 11 confirmed that he suffered devastating gun shot wounds to the head from an AK variant assault weapon, most likely an AK-47.'
'I have no doubt here that Chris was killed as the result of a weapon fired by an insurgent,' he said.
'It was fired without legal justification or excuse and quite clearly with the intention to kill, and sadly the insurgent was successful in his action.”
Speaking outside the court, Mrs McManus said: 'Two years ago we lost our beloved Chris, the trauma, pain, horror and distress have been overwhelming and intense. We are living our way through the grief with the tireless support and love of our family and friends. Our thanks and love goes out to each and every one of them.
'Chris cannot be hurt any more, we and all those who loved him will always remember the way he lived and not the way he died.'
Mr McManus lived at Wensleydale Close in Oldham and graduated from Salford University with a 2:1 in quantity surveying. His parents Mike and Laura McManus and his brother and sister Justine and Ben were at the hearing.
The Oldham Athletic fan had always wanted to work abroad and had been in Nigeria for seven months before he was kidnapped.
These barbaric, needless murders were brought to you by the so called 'religion of peace' - May the vicious b**tards burn eternally in the pits of hell!! -- My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones, families and friends, God bless all them all - Fx
